Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Op aarde schitteren we even by Ocean Vuong

72 reviews

flamesocks's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Violence

cocacolor's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Love Vuong's poetry; his novel is like his poetry, but more so. That's sometimes good and sometimes bad. Gets extra points for making me personally feel seen.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Cancer, Child abuse, Colonisation, Sexual content, Terminal illness, War, and Drug abuse

threeundertwopnw's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Addiction, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

mykes's review against another edition

reflective

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Abortion, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Cancer, Grief, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Colonisation, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Homophobia, War, and Terminal illness

josie9's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Absolutely speechless, Vuong’s writing is truely ingenious, authentic and so freaking devastating 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, War, and Bullying

erikalv97's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is beautifully written, the story is enthralling, I could hardly put the book down. 

I loved the writer’s style, the constant change of tenses, narration and the really thorough descriptions. 

The story itself is hard hitting, I cried several times (please check the cw!!!!)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cancer, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, War, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Mental illness, Racism, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Excrement

mackennariley's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Child abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racial slurs

mrdeadman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Medical content, Mental illness, and Cursing

rose_reads_books's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

The only reason I’m not giving this absolute masterpiece of literary fiction five stars is the time I read it. Reading it when in a rush and not ready for such a touching and deep book I didn’t get to enjoy the craftsmanship of writing. Yet even though the book is slow paced, which is dreadful to me; it took me through emotional turmoil and provoked tears not only once. As a lover of poetry I want this book to stay close to me and will proceed to looks at Oceans other works 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Excrement, and Homophobia

alekz's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I just finished Ocean Vuong’s ‘On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous’ while on a sunset flight already knee deep in melancholy and thoughts about wabi-sabi: a Japanese appreciation of the transience of life leaving its mark on objects; finding beauty in the cracked and worn. what I like to call mundane art. all this was swimming inside me while I watched the sun set from the wrong side, the one where the sky turns blue to that dusty lavender and then to the indigo that turns black instead of the blue to orange to red to the west, and I read Vuong’s words. And I cannot give them high enough praise. The way this man wields his words is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Not a page goes by without a metaphor that shakes me like a little piggy bank on its back. He weaves his narratives so seamlessly that you watch a metaphor start awake and fall quietly back into an even breathed sleep. The way Vuong writes makes me want to write and more importantly it makes me want to look at the world and see it. The book is a letter that says everything he wants to tell his mother and can’t. The touch of a lover, the color of the sky, the texture of hurt, and i echo these sentiments everyday as I realize that everything I write is for my mother, every picture i take is a moment I wish she could see. Ocean Vuong brings to the smallest moments the same fervor and depth that I do with much more beautiful words and it’s just the most beautiful thing to behold. I’m privileged to read his stories. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, War, and Xenophobia